330 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



storm was very soft, wet, and heavy, and rendered the 

 travelling extremely laborious. 



During my absence Mr. Egerton obtained a tem- 

 perature-sounding half-a-mile distant from the land off 

 Black Cape, in thirty-two fathoms of water. The 

 temperature at a depth of two fathoms was 2 8° "5 ; at 

 fae, 29°-2 ; at twenty, 29° ; and at thirty, 29°*4. The 

 thickness of the ice, which was a small patch frozen 

 during the past winter, was 49 \ inches. 



At this date, with a mean temperature of the air at 

 about 30°, a pool of water, which rose and fell with 

 the tide, encircled each grounded floeberg, causing the 

 ice in the neighbourhood to decay rapidly. Although 

 my visit to Cape Joseph Henry was made during the 

 neap-tides, it was noticeable that there the rise and falL 

 of the tide was decidedly less than at Floeberg Beach. 



